Inserting replay events in network production flows

Abstract

An example method includes detecting a first replay event in a production flow being processed by a service assurance platform of a telecommunications service provider network, where the production flow comprises a stream of production events and a stream of replay events including at least the first replay event, processing the first replay event to generate a ticket for the first replay event, and delivering the ticket to a database that stores a plurality of tickets generated for a plurality of replay events.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 detecting, by a processing system including at least one processor, a first replay event in a production flow being processed by a service assurance platform of a telecommunications service provider network, where the production flow comprises a real time stream of new production events and a stream of replay events including at least the first replay event, and wherein each replay event in the stream of replay events comprises an event that was observed in the production flow in the past and that has been duplicated and associated with metadata prior to the each replay event being inserted into the real time stream of new production events to produce the production flow; 
 processing, by the processing system, the first replay event to generate a ticket for the first replay event; and 
 delivering, by the processing system, the ticket to a database that stores a plurality of tickets generated for a plurality of replay events. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein production events of the real time stream of new production events are collected by a collector of the service assurance platform. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein at least some of the production events are duplicated by a replay dispatcher of the service assurance platform to produce a plurality of replay events of the stream of replay events. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the stream of replay events is inserted into the real time stream of new production events by the replay dispatcher to produce the production flow. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the replay dispatcher associates the metadata with each replay event of the plurality of replay events to distinguish the each replay event from the production events. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the detecting comprises:
 determining, by the processing system, that the first replay event includes the metadata. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the metadata is contained in a header, and wherein the production events do not include the header. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the metadata includes at least one of: a unique identifier that identifies a specific job associated with the first replay event, a time stamp indicating a time at which a production event of which the first replay event is a duplicate was observed in the production flow, or a flow indicator identifying the first replay event as belonging to the real time stream of new production events or the stream of replay events. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 6 , wherein the production flow is obtained by the processing system from a post-processing component of the service assurance platform that has generated an alarm for the first replay event. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first replay event has been processed by a pre-processing component of the service assurance system, prior to arriving at the post-processing component, to be converted from a machine-readable form to a human-readable form. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the metadata is preserved by the pre-processing system and the post-processing system prior to the detecting. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first replay event comprises a replay of at least one of: a simple network management protocol event, a system logging protocol event, a polling event, or a streaming telemetry event. 
     
     
       13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processing system including at least one processor, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 detecting a first replay event in a production flow being processed by a service assurance platform of a telecommunications service provider network, where the production flow comprises a real time stream of new production events and a stream of replay events including at least the first replay event, and wherein each replay event in the stream of replay events comprises an event that was observed in the production flow in the past and that has been duplicated and associated with metadata prior to the each replay event being inserted into the real time stream of new production events to produce the production flow; 
 processing the first replay event to generate a ticket for the first replay event; and 
 delivering the ticket to a database that stores a plurality of tickets generated for a plurality of replay events. 
 
     
     
       14. A system comprising:
 a processing system including at least one processor; and 
 a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
 detecting a first replay event in a production flow being processed by a service assurance platform of a telecommunications service provider network, where the production flow comprises a real time stream of new production events and a stream of replay events including at least the first replay event, and wherein each replay event in the stream of replay events comprises an event that was observed in the production flow in the past and that has been duplicated and associated with metadata prior to the each replay event being inserted into the real time stream of new production events to produce the production flow; 
 processing the first replay event to generate a ticket for the first replay event; and 
 delivering the ticket to a database that stores a plurality of tickets generated for a plurality of replay events. 
 
 
     
     
       15. The system of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a collector of the service assurance platform to collect production events of the real time stream of new production events; and 
 a replay dispatcher to duplicate at least some of the production events to produce a plurality of replay events of the stream of replay events and to associate the metadata with each replay event of the plurality of replay events. 
 
     
     
       16. The system of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 a pre-processing component of the service assurance platform to convert the production events and the plurality of replay events from computer-readable form to human-readable form; and 
 a post-processing component to generate one or more alarms for the production events and the plurality of replay events. 
 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the pre-processing component, the post-processing component, and a ticketing component of which the processing system is a part preserve the metadata. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 15 , wherein the metadata includes, for the first replay event, at least one of: a unique identifier that identifies a specific job associated with the first replay event, a time stamp indicating a time at which a production event of which the first replay event is a duplicate was observed in the production flow, or a flow indicator identifying the first replay event as belonging to the stream of production events or the stream of replay events. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a ticketing correlation component to correlate tickets generated for the production events. 
 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 14 , wherein the first replay event comprises a replay of at least one of: a simple network management protocol event or a system logging protocol event.